Operation Arrakis: Nightingale
By Josh Cochran


He knew what to expect and yet he was still taken by surprise. In the last 
two years he'd seen quite a few people in bacta, but the sight of Lenka 
Leannan floating lifelessly hit Josh like a kick in the stomach. Black and 
red wounds dotted her body where she'd been shot and disappeared beneath 
the small garments she'd been given to protect her modesty. One of them 
carved a gap in her left arm above the elbow, almost severing the limb. On 
closer inspection he could clearly see charred bone through the missing 
chunk of muscle and skin that would normally hide it. If there were a way 
to reverse their positions, have her standing here and him hanging onto 
life by a thread in there, he would have taken it without hesitation.

He picked up that datapad that sat on the small table next to the tank and 
flipped it on, glad to have something to look at other than the horror of 
Lenka's broken body. Extensive nerve damage, he read there. Patient must 
remain unconscious. Bacta therapy to continue until modern medical 
facilities are available. He wondered at which definition of ‘modern' 
Sylvana meant: the common one, or the one used by Terra Group. Too bad she 
wasn't there to ask. It was hard to reconcile the sober, conscientious 
notes on the datapad with the reason for her absence. What in the world 
could make someone go off the deep end like that?

When he laid the pad back down he couldn't help looking back at the tank 
again. It was then he realized he was doing the Jedi equivalent of holding 
his breath. For the first time since coming into the medbay, he reached out 
to Lenka in the Force. She was there, thank God, but her presence was much 
smaller than normal. Reaching further he found a ghost of the pain she 
would feel if she were awake. Even that small shadow was enough to make him 
shy away. He reached out for the tiny part of her conscious mind that was 
still aware, but it fled from him like a frightened child. The second time 
he approached slowly and cautiously, and for a moment he felt she 
recognized him. Fear controlled her. Pain had overwhelmed her last moments 
of consciousness and sent her deep inside herself. She was terrified that 
if she tried to make the journey back to consciousness the agony would be 
waiting for her. Her fear was tinged with panic, because she realized she 
was surrounded by liquid and knew that this was dangerously unnatural. Her 
reflexes cried out for her to kick for the surface and take a deep breath, 
but her body wouldn't obey.

Before he withdrew the contact he tried to reassure her that she would be 
okay. Then through the Force he gave her as much of his own strength as he 
could. When the link finally was broken he was suddenly very tired. He 
pulled a chair up close enough to reach out and touch the tank. Just before 
he sat down he realized one more feeling he'd sensed in her: she was cold. 
He turned the temperature in the tank up a few degrees hoping it would 
bring her some small measure of comfort.

Once he was seated he couldn't keep from looking up at the tank again. He 
was torn between wanting to look and wanting desperately to look anywhere 
else. In the end he forced himself to hold his eyes steady and look at what 
he'd caused. For it was certain that he could have prevented it. He 
shouldn't have let her come on this mission in the first place. Whatever 
skills she may have weren't possibly worth this price. Even if they were 
necessary there was no need for her to be in that alley. She could have 
stayed aboard the ship, he could have sent her back when they ran into 
trouble, he could have opened his senses more and found Sahhar before he 
could use her as a human shield.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should never have let you get involved."

Overcome by his guilt, Josh held his head in his hands and closed his eyes. 
As soon as he did the vision from his dream came back to him: Lenka's 
broken body lying in her own blood in a circle of night, while vultures 
circled in a harshly sunny sky overhead. He shook his head to clear the 
image from his mind only to have it replaced by a flashback to the previous 
night. Once again he watched helpless as blaster bolts from half a dozen 
weapons, including his own, slammed into and through her. He saw her head 
bounce off the pavement as she dropped limply back to the ground.

He'd acted in anger pursuing Wells because even he knew the other American 
could not possibly cause what happened to Lenka. As bad as Wells was, 
Sahhar was worse. A Sith here on Earth. How had he not known? He should 
have felt that much dark side energy instantly. And yet Sahhar got close 
enough to his team without being discovered to cause this.

It will cost him, he vowed. I will make him pay dearly.

"She's going to burn up," a voice said from the door of the medbay. He 
realized his hand was resting on the hilt of his lightsaber and quickly 
moved it to his lap as he turned to find Cheriss already headed for the 
tank controls.

"Leave it," he said softly. "She was cold."

Cheriss looked as though she wanted to argue the point, but instead she 
just nodded and stopped where she was. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Josh nodded slowly. "I'll be fine. With a shower and a couple of bacta 
patches I'll be good as new."

"I didn't mean physically, though you probably need more than a couple of 
patches. Were you close?" she asked with a nod toward the tank.

"No," he said. "Actually, most of the time she couldn't stand me."

Cheriss a chair up and sat down beside Josh facing him. He didn't turn to 
look at her, but rather stared blankly at the tank. "Do I take it that 
feeling wasn't mutual?"

He shrugged. "No, not entirely. That's the real reason she's here."

"That's not what I heard."

"Well it is. If I hadn't let her come along. . . Thayer's been saying for 
months that I needed to take one of these girls off his hands, and the 
first one I find the least bit interesting I nearly get killed. No wonder 
he's so angry."

"There's more to it than that," she said. "From what I've heard he's aware 
of something that happened between you and his fiancée."

"Oh shit," Josh said as he dropped his head to look at the deck.

"So it's true?"

"Yes. Well, it depends on what you heard, exactly. God knows your child has 
been mistaken for mine and Becki's often enough lately, but it was nothing 
like that."

"That's what you were talking about when you told her Wells saw you in 
Paris?" Josh nodded. "That explains her reaction."

"I'll never be able to make up for all of this," he said.

"Maybe not. But it's reassuring that you would want to. If you're the 
mission commander it's good to know there's more to you than anger."

"I guess the Sith bring out the worst in people," he said. Then he turned 
to face her. "Cheriss, I thought the Sith died with Palpatine. Where could 
Sahhar have come from?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I've been on Earth for nearly a year, so 
you're more current on the intel than I am, but I've never heard any 
reports of the Sith making a comeback. Are you sure that's what he is?"

"I'm mostly taking his word for it. He said he was the first of the new 
Sith. He could be lying, but I can't deny how powerful he is. If he's only 
the first. . . ."

"How can you be so sure you can defeat him?" Cheriss asked.

"Because I have to," he said. "Because there's no one else who can do it."

"But the Jedi on Yavin-"

"It'll take them a week and a half to get here and you know it. I can't 
risk what he might do between now and then. I've got to do something. I 
nearly had him earlier, so I can handle him."

She looked at him doubtfully for a moment. "I suppose doing something is 
better than doing nothing."

"Almost always."

"That doesn't sound very Jedi-like. I didn't think you were supposed to be 
so quick to act."

Josh snorted. "The Jedi were slow to act the last time the Sith reappeared, 
and look where that got everyone."

Cheriss didn't have an answer for that. After a moment she stood up and 
said, "I have some things to take care of, so I'll leave you two alone," 
indicating the tank again. "Let me know when you get cleaned up and I'll 
take care of getting you bandaged up."

"Okay," he said, then just before she walked out the door called, 
"Cheriss?"

"Yes?"

He stood up and faced her. "I know about you and Wells." He paused for a 
moment, glanced down at the deck and then back up at her. "I'm sorry."

She nodded a silent acknowledgement. "Does anyone else know?"

"No."

"I'd like to keep it that way. I'd just as soon they all think Aliénor's 
father was someone else. Anyone else."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone," he said.

"Thank you," she said before leaving him alone in the room with the 
gurgling bacta tank.